Geoff Devine wrote:

>The back side of Killington down to Wheelerville Road is starting to suffer
>from overzealous pruning.  At this rate, it'll be a windswept wasteland in
>another 10 years.

It'll certainly be more than 10 years before that happens. Think of Big Dipper.
It's been a glade since the 1960's and then exposed to Double Dipper for the
past 15+ years, yet most of the trees there are still standing. Think of the
fact that the area was heavily logged (including clearcuts) in the early to
mid-1900's and yet it is a thriving forest today. Moreover, if global warming
continues and increases as some suggest, skiing on natural snow in Vermont will
be a distant memory in 50-100 years, and the forest will then have plenty of
time to recover before burning to the ground in a major drought or going back
to tundra before the next glaciation.

The biggest threat to Vermont forests is the birch die-back that I posted about
several weeks ago. Large swaths of forest could die, but they will be quickly
replaced by other trees.

That being said, I abhor the use of chainsaws to create glades. It makes felling
large trees too easy and opens up the run too much.

Jim

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